By: Ravi Sinha
Track2Realty Exclusive: Industry experts assert if the neighbourhood does not have the supportive social infrastructure, the demand will be less compared to the well-developed areas. The number of houses remaining vacant in a project in the core areas of the city is less compared to those outside the city.
Bijay Agarwal, MD of Salarpuria Sattva believes social infrastructure of Coimbatore is truly supporting physical infrastructure to make it an ideal property destination.
“Coimbatore has some of the best hospitals, schools and job opportunities due to its fast pace of industrialization. I would say it has a healthy combination of all that one seeks in a well- developed city-without the pollution. Almost like a metro. Since the government is also putting infrastructure development on the fast track it balances out very well,” says Agarwal.
Rajsheskhar Koneru – Regional Owner of RE/MAX Rest of Tamil Nadu believes Coimbatore has a well-developed social infrastructure including hotels, health services, recreational spots, research institutions, professional colleges, two universities and one deemed university and commercial complexes.
He, however, has a feeling that the city should have been much ahead on development map but Coimbatore has been hampered due to political negligence for a long time.
“The physical infrastructure needs to catch up a lot with social infrastructure. Coimbatore suffered huge losses due to lack of continuous supply of electricity and most of its industries have been shut down. Recently, the situation is little better with power supply fixed to a large extent. In broad perspective physical infrastructure has to improve a long way if Coimbatore has to grow to its full potential,” says Koneru.
A local property agent says in the last few years, many developers have been providing several amenities within their complexes, including schools, malls, clubhouses, swimming pools and sport facilities. And hence, the economic slowdown felt by the other industrial sectors in the country has not yet had an impact on the investments in the property market of Coimbatore.
The requirement for houses and commercial space continues. The only worrying factor is that rentals have not moved up much in the residential segment during the last couple of years, say representatives of the property industry. But then being an end-user driven market, rental properties any way are not as much in demand in the city, compared to other neighbouring cities.
The moot point is at a time when the property market in many of the tier-II and III cities across the country are stagnant, will the developers in other markets take a leaf out of the success story of Coimbatore? If yes, then the focus on social infrastructure might help them to beat the slowdown blues. At least, the success story of Coimbatore market seems to suggest so.
